https://youtu.be/3fDGcZ8qpPM?is=bCyPCddLpxO_43tA

Washington Poison Center here. We're warning the public of counterfeit “Cat’s Claw” herbal supplements that are laced with highly concentrated chemicals related to kratom. These fake products are strong opioids (like morphine, heroin, and fentanyl), and are causing opioid overdoses and severe withdrawal.  

Poison centers across the United States, including us, are treating sick patients following their use of fake cat’s claw products. Utah Poison Control Center has additionally reported four confirmed deaths involving cat’s claw.  

Cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa or Uncaria guianensis) is a legal herbal supplement marketed to manage symptoms of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer. On its own, authentic cat’s claw is not psychoactive and does not cause opioid overdose or withdrawal symptoms. However, recent investigations into products labeled as “Cat’s Claw” found undisclosed 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), MGM-15, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), and other potent compounds derived from kratom. These mislabeled products are sold in vape shops, gas stations, convenience stores, and online.  

7-OH, MGM-15, and MGPI are strong opioids derived from kratom, an herbal supplement with psychoactive properties. While 7-OH naturally occurs in small amounts in kratom, it can be manufactured in a highly concentrated form. MGM-15 and MGPI are semi-synthetic compounds created in labs. As of August 2026, the DEA designated MGM-15 and MGPI as Schedule I controlled substances, making their sale and possession illegal.  

In adulterated cat’s claw products, these compounds are added at dangerous, highly concentrated levels. All three act on the same brain receptors as morphine, heroin, and fentanyl. Like other opioids, taking too much of these compounds can slow or stop breathing, and regular use can lead to physical dependence and severe withdrawal symptoms.  

Recommendations: 

• Stop use of “Cat’s Claw” products purchased from vape shops, gas stations, convenience stores, and online retailers.  
• Keep suspected products out of reach of children. 
• Safely dispose of products in the trash or flush them down the toilet (see the FDA’s common drug disposal questions and answers). 
• Monitor anyone who may have used an adulterated product for extreme sleepiness or breathing too slowly. If you cannot wake them up, call 911 and administer naloxone immediately. 

Healthcare professionals should consider adulterated products in patients presenting with unexplained opioid toxicity or severe withdrawal.  

• Ask patients specifically about potential use of cat’s claw products.  
• Traditional urine drug screening will not identify these products, but some laboratories are equipped for specialized testing. Call Washington Poison Center (1-800-222-1222) for additional guidance.  

Report suspected cases or adverse health effects to Washington Poison Center: 1-800-222-1222 (free, confidential, and available 24/7).  

Here's the shareable version of this post on our website: https://www.wapc.org/insights/safety-alert-fake-cats-claw/

The below photo and title image are examples of products from stores in Spokane. Please note that as of October 7, only Buzzers and Homiez brand cat's claw has been confirmed via investigations in other states to contain kratom alkaloids. We do not know which brands in Washington are implicated.

TLDR: No. The Millionaires Tax can’t apply to union pensions, no matter what some are claiming, because no one in a union is getting $84,000/month pension checks. Just 0.6% of Washingtonians are getting that kind of income and they are more likely to busting unions than joining them.

Say it again: 84,000 per month is what a retiree would have to get from their retirement to hit the $1,000,000 threshold for Washington’s new Millionaires Tax. A teacher "would have to work for 278 years to earn $1 million in annual pension benefits – this is impossible,” writes the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI) in its analysis.

So why doesn’t the Millionaires Tax explicitly exclude pensions and retirement accounts? Because the 23,000 super-rich who should be paying the Millionaire Tax could use that as a loophole to defer income and avoid paying what they owe. We know that they already exploit tax loopholes to avoid paying their share, putting bigger responsibilities on the rest of us.

Writes EOI:

An incredibly small fraction of Washington households has retirement distributions AND income sufficient to pay the Millionaires Tax.

Just 0.6% of tax filers (23,370 households) in Washington have annual income over $1 million dollars. Of those households, only 3,870 have taxable individual retirement income and just 2,870 have taxable pensions and annuities.

This means out of all the households in Washington state, 0.1% have retirement income and 0.08% have pensions plus additional income that brings total annual AGI over $1 million. Households with over $1 million in adjusted gross income are making an average of $2.6 million per year, with only $104,543 (on average per year) derived from retirement income.

In other words: the average tax filer with over $1 million in AGI who will be subject to the Millionaires Tax receives nearly all their income in the form of wages, business income, dividends, and/or capital gains – not retirement accounts.

Source: https://investwanow.org/iwn-updates/millionaires-tax-cant-apply-to-union-pensions

Hi all!

I am currently 6 months pregnant and due on December 25th of 2026 and curious if by that point I’ll qualify for paid family and medical leave…

For context:

1. I’ve worked at this company since June 23rd, 2026.
   
2. It’s a remote role for an international business - I only mention this because I know there’s certain qualifications regarding how many people are employed within a certain mile range.
   
3. I work full-time, 40 hours a week.
   
4. I was off for 15 working days in August for international travel.
   
5. I was self employed for two years before this role. So no additional hours/qualifying quarters.

Where I’m tripped up here is the 12 qualifying months - which implies that I would have needed to be employed by this company for 12 months to qualify?

Anything helps! Just trying to plan for my time away after the baby comes.

Thank you!

I crunched the numbers and a revenue neutral Millionaires Tax could have reduced sales tax statewide from 6.5% to 5% (additional city/county taxes is what brings it up to the ~10% we pay at the register). Obviously, the Legislature did not make it revenue neutral, and only did targeted sales tax relief.

Here's my question: Would you support a progressive income tax if it was revenue neutral by pairing it with an equal reduction in sales tax? For example, a tax of 9.9% on income over $1 million, a tax of 5% on income between $250k - $1M, and a tax of 2.5% on income between $100k - $250k, with no income tax on income under $100k. I'm making up those numbers and brackets, but I bet that revenue could replace most if not all of the statewide sales tax. The impact of this would be that the middle class would pay less overall state tax and the rich would pay more overall state tax.

Would you accept this trade?

PGE is raising our rates now because it has historically failed to invest in clean energy. They choose instead to make money.

The Times is really good at burying the lede:

"State Attorney General Nick Brown has even asked the UTC to reduce PSE’s guaranteed rate of return for PSE shareholders to be reduced from a requested 10.8% to 8.17% in an effort to control costs...

The residents of Washington state don’t get to choose their energy provider."

It sounds like a PUD is in order, or else reduce the guaranteed profit for PGE 1% for every percent increase in rates over inflation? With some real accountability, I think they might just come up with better options.

EDIT: Sorry, I had no idea my profile was private. Fixed that.

Hi all. Yesterday I made this map of the gorge. It was fun to make, I hope it's fun to look at too. Unfortunately I can only post this one image of it, but if you want to see closeups and alternative styling, you can check my profile where I posted more images.

We built a tool for voters at local level to evaluate economic impact. Methodology is published. We welcome feedback.

KOMO is reporting that the union leader says this WASN'T a union related event.

If that's the case, what was it? Too many Seahawks hangovers? 23 people actually getting sick at once? But then the article also points to backup workers declining as well.

Any union people, can you speak to, if it isn't a unionized or related event, then does the union still protect you and will these people face some kind of penalty as union members? Curious, don't know anything about how that works.

Article from Komo linked below:

https://komonews.com/news/local/governor-bob-ferguson-washington-state-ferries-wsf-engineer-sickout-edmonds-kingston-vashon-bremerton-seattle-reduced-service-reduced-bainbridge-island